Too important

Having twice rejected the proposal to replace invaluable car parking spaces with yet more student accommodation, Labour members of the city council planning review committee have secured a recall of the proposal for further consideration.

The proposal had already been rejected by all the St Clements ward councillors, who understand the serious adverse impact this will have on our area and the stupidity of selling such a valuable piece of land. However the Labour Party, whose councillors do not represent anyone who will be affected by this planning application, prefers to sell off this land in order ‘to avoid cuts in the city’s public services’ as one Labour councillor wrote to me last week. This councillor also wrote that this application was being pushed through in haste because as he wrote, he ‘thinks there is a ‘rush’ because the city council needs the money and the universities need more student accommodation’. The short-sightedness of building on this strategically and environmentally vital piece of land is breathtaking. It’s clear that the councillors who’ve voted in favour of doing this haven’t thought it through.

But why should they, if nobody who votes for them is likely to be affected? The strenuous efforts of the Labour Party during the last elections to get one of theirs voted into the St Clements ward were rejected and St Clements remains the sole preserve of the Green Party.

This seems unlikely to change. I’m not a member of a political party and vote on issues not according to dogma. Surely something like this is too important to be determined by party politics?

Hugh McManners, St Clements